


Ordinary Occurrences

by Psycho_Pop



Category: South Park
Genre: (One-sided) Bunny, Angst, Butters' POV, Craig's POV, Cult of Cthulhu, Depression, F/M, Goth Stan, Immorality, Kyle's POV, M/M, OOC Pip, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Suicide, Tweek's POV, kenny's POV
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2019-08-28 17:05:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16727442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psycho_Pop/pseuds/Psycho_Pop
Summary: Word spreads fast around the small mountain town of South Park. When word spreads of a mysterious vigilante who could potentially take down Professor Chaos rumor spreads like wildfire and everyone wants to know more.Mysterion realizes that finding the truth about his powers would not be an easy task as he faces never ending crime, crazy scenarios and meets others with powers like him.Kyle is secretly a supporter of the vigilante, so when he arrives asking for his help, what could he say?





	1. First Sightings

Chapter 1 ~ First sightings

~Kyle's POV~

Word spread fast in South Park especially within South Park’s high school. It was usually Bebe Steven’s voice that could be heard spreading the latest gossip, however this time it had been Kyle Broflovski’s super best friend Stan Marsh’s voice that excitedly lead the hype for a new news story. 

It had been Stan’s time to shine when he arrived one morning with news from the night before. In the previous weeks there had been rumors of a mysterious vigilante running around their small mountain town. It wasn’t the first time a crazy story like this went around so nobody took much notice, South Park was known for its strange occurrences. But since Stan’s story of supposedly seeing the vigilante with his own eyes, news spread like wildfire and suddenly everyone wanted to know more about the unknown hero. 

As Kyle walked to his locker as he did every morning he heard commotion from down the hall and curiously turned to see Stan. “I’m serious!” Stan exclaimed from his locker as several skeptics approached him, “He was there, a real person! He had cornered Professor Chaos!” Professor Chaos was known throughout South Park, a petty prankster turned notorious criminal. It was the first time anyone has heard news of him being cornered, there was rumor of him possessing a strange power, which of course, as Kyle had put it previously, ‘complete BS.’ 

“Yeah, well if that’s the case how come we’ve never seen him?” One boy questioned clearly sick of the unreasonable rumors flooding the town. 

“Well maybe he’s new, ya know?” Stan answered, irritated that the group didn’t believe him. “Plus it was really late and he was wearing all dark colors so he’s probably just good at hiding and doesn’t want the attention.” 

“How come you were out so late then?” Kyle questioned as he stopped in front of Stan, trying to catch up with the conversation. 

“Oh Kyle not you too! Look okay, I was doing a favor for my dad you know how he is! He found a new recipe online or something and insisted I went out and got ingredients for him, apparently it couldn’t wait.” Stan huffed at the end of his explanation. It was true, Kyle didn’t have a hard time imagining Stan’s dad sending Stan out in the middle of the night to do some ridiculous task. Still Kyle was just as skeptical as the others in the crowd that he’d actually managed to see someone anyone cornering Professor Chaos. Though he didn’t have enough information to tell if Stan was lying, he’d just arrived after all.  
“Look look, I don’t even know what’s happening, so you saw someone late last night cornering Professor Chaos, yeah so?” Kyle asked already sick of the commotion this early in the morning. 

“Dude! What do you mean ‘so’? This is Professor Chaos not even the police could catch him! And this dude just appears out of nowhere and beats him up! What’s so ‘so’ about that?”

“Fine, say there is some guy out there who did corner him-” Kyle started

“I saw him-!”

“Okay, there is some guy out there who cornered him, what does that even mean? I bet that Professor Chaos is just some guy who’s really good at running away and just about anyone fast enough could beat him up.” 

“Yeah…” Stan sighed, “but Professor Chaos has that unknown power ya know! So not just anyone-”

“Don’t give me that Stan, you know that’s not possible. If he did have a power it wouldn’t be unknown would it? Everyone would know.”

“Ugh dude! You’re supposed to be my super best friend how come you never back me up!” Stan argued looking hurt.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal is all.” 

“Fine, I get it, you guys don’t think it’s a big deal and I probably wouldn’t either if someone had told me all this but you don’t get it. I just get the feeling we suddenly have a really good guy helping us out for once. Can’t I at least hope?” Stan looked defeated as he sulked down the hall.

~~

As the weeks went on it became harder and harder to doubt that this mysterious person Stan had mentioned existed. As many of Stan’s so called ‘believers’ and even some of the skeptics kept watch around town, there were too many incidences of people finding the unknown person for it to be a lie. Some had even claimed they’d been saved by them or had seen others being helped. It seemed as if Stan’s story was right, there was now somebody on the people’s side. 

“What’s gotten the emo so smug?” Eric Cartman questioned one afternoon at lunch. Eric, Kyle, Stan and Kenny sat at their usual lunch table, this time accompanied by Kenny’s best friend Craig Tucker as well as Stan’s girlfriend Wendy Testaburger.  
“You haven’t heard then?” Kyle questioned looking over at Stan who did in fact have a smug look on his face.  
“What’s going on now?” Craig asked in his monotone sounding voice, expression vacant as it always was. Craig was always one of the first to know if something was amiss, he despised change and strived to live a boring and uneventful life. Ironic for somebody living in this town. 

“Stan’s just happy because he was the first to see South Park’s new ‘hero’.” Wendy chimed in happily, she was never one to believe things without evidence so it seemed unusual that she was so trusting in this situation. Obviously the amount of kids coming into school claiming to have seen this ‘hero’ had made her believe them. 

“What?” Cartman slammed his lunch down onto his tray. Cartman, was always up to date on new people in South Park, he was ready whenever someone threatened his position as ‘kewlest’ kid in town, and this seemed very threatening. “What do you mean hero. God, Stan what shit have you gotten everyone into now?” 

“No, it’s not just Stan. I’ve seen them too.” Wendy piped up clearly not ready for Stan to be belittled by the likes of Cartman. 

“Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” Craig questioned again. 

“Wait Wendy when did you see them?” Kyle asked casually putting his orange juice down, “I thought you of all people wouldn’t believe this.” 

“No, he’s real. I was out yesterday trying to find something nice for Red’s birthday when I heard something from the shop across the street. Some kids were trying to rob this couple. Then he just appeared out of nowhere and fought them all off.” Wendy explained full confidence in her voice. 

“How come I’ve never heard about this?” Cartman argued looking at Wendy with complete disgust.

“Well you clearly aren’t that aware of your environment if you didn’t even know this was happening in our town until today.” Wendy pointed out.

Craig and Kenny shared a look, Craig still looking completely puzzled despite his expression barely changing in the slightest. Kenny just shrugged, it was always hard to tell how he felt as his face was often covered with a bright orange hoodie. 

Kyle had to admit, if even Wendy was believing that this person existed then surely they did. Or was she just in on it because Stan believed it? It was hard to tell. In a town like South Park it wasn’t completely unheard of that something like this would happen, it was always prone to strange activity. Though Kyle was slightly embarrassed to be behind on the news, he was an avid believer that news of this kind was to be found through the news and the news alone not through playground rumors. But due to his massive piles of homework, he had been behind on the news recently. Surely someone would have reported something online even if it hadn’t hit the television news yet. Kyle made up his mind, instead of just believing everything Stan and the kids in his class say he was going to look into this and find out once and for all if this person even existed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome welcome! To my first work on AO3, I’ve been looking forward to sharing this for a long time so I’m glad somebody has taken the time to read it! Just a quick notice though, I don’t live in America so I’m not too familiar with education there. Which includes things like the average school day and curriculum but I’ll try my best! So if I make any mistakes please point them out so I can change them!! Also sorry for a short chapter I just want to give a ‘taster’ chapter before committing to anything. Thank you <3


	2. Photo Evidence

~Kyle's POV~

Kyle sat at his desk, his room cold from the late November weather. He glanced from his pile of books looming over his desk to his monitor. Was he really about to give in to some playground rumors? He had to say he was slightly curious whether what Stan and everyone else was saying was really true. It had to be, right? Wendy Testaburger doesn’t just go along with any old story, she had a reputation to keep as the student council representative. Kyle made up his mind, just a quick Google search couldn’t hurt. If the rumors were false, then at least he knew but if they were true then… Well maybe Stan was right, maybe South Park really did have someone on their side at last.

As his computer woke from its well deserved sleep, Kyle thought about life in South Park. Kyle knew how everyone saw him, most had a negative view of him, he couldn’t even blame Cartman for everyone’s attitudes towards him. Most people thought he was stuck-up, thought himself better than others, this wasn’t true, of course. Though Kyle knew why they thought that, not only did he come from a well off family, but he mostly excelled at whatever he did. From a very young age, his parents had made it very clear they expected only the best from him and pushed him to refine his skills at any free moment. It was obvious his future was already carved in stone by his parents and by living he was just filling in the cracks of an already perfect template. 

Those who didn’t believe he was a stuck-up snob, soon learnt of his other flaws. Though he wouldn’t want to admit it, he knew that Cartman and life’s trials but mostly Cartman had left him with a particularly nasty streak. He was incredibly short-tempered. His friends all knew this, they made effort not to try him when he was in a bad mood, but Cartman always had other ideas. This often left Kyle making a complete show in public, which reminded many of his mother. But it was known throughout town that Kyle and Cartman were enemies and would only cooperate if forced to. 

But aside from all the negatives, Kyle liked to think he was open-minded. He believed in second chances, he believed in the benefit of the doubt but he did not believe that rumor equaled fact especially if those rumors included a mysterious hero running around town with the capability of challenging Professor Chaos. Speaking of… his computer had woken up and was displaying the usual lock screen. 

 

~~

 

~Stan's POV~

Stan Marsh, Kyle’s super best friend sat grumpily at his kitchen table as his father had persuaded his entire family to gather round and watch him as he prepared numerous extravagant meals. His father was known for being completely impulsive and volatile, quickly shifting from one idea to another, one hobby to another and usually dragging his entire family along with him as he made poor decisions. He wasn’t a bad person at all, he just seemed childish sometimes. Stan’s sister, Shelly was 18 now, she was hoping any day to get accepted into a college so she could finally leave South Park. Stan envied her, as much as he would hate moving from his friends and family, he wished more than anything to finally be able to pack up his bags and leave. 

Stan was 17 now and unlike popular belief he hadn’t broken out of his ‘goth phase’ as his parents like to put it. He was often seen sporting all black and hanging out with the Goth Kids. The Goth Kids used to consider him a conformist, he hung out with them while still taking interest in things not considered very goth and still spending a huge amount of time with his other friends. But as Stan consistently showed the Goth Kids how serious he was eventually they grew to accept him as one of their own, even if he still wasn’t considered ‘fully’ goth by their standards. Even Cartman seemed to accept his attitudes and even went as far as referring to him as ‘emo’ which he knew would seriously offend any of the Goth Kids if they heard. 

But despite Stan now being considered one of the goths he still made sure he kept full attention on the other non-goth things he enjoyed. This would include things like sport, video games and Terrance and Phillip.  Though behind his positive facade of just being another kid in ‘Cartman’s group’ he often fell into depressive episodes. His friends, Kyle and Kenny had often helped him during these times and made sure he never had to rely on alcohol again. He knew that hit home specially with Kenny who often had to help his parents or elder brother who were borderline alcoholics. Though he had heard that his brother was recovering now which was good news. Stan hated being a burden on his friends but he was extremely grateful for their constant support. 

“Alright guys!” Randy Marsh piped up, turning to his family with a plate of  _ something  _ in his hands, “Who’s ready for my speciality?” 

“Randy, I’m not sure it’s supposed to look like that.” Sharon Marsh commented trying to hide her disgust. Stan was sure it wasn’t supposed to look like that. 

 

~~ 

 

~Kyle's POV~

Kyle couldn’t deny it now. 

He had been searching forums and websites for the past hour. There had been many people in the past week alone telling the world their experiences with the mysterious person who had cornered Professor Chaos. 

Though there had been no photo or video evidence yet, the people had managed to make a basic description of the local hero. According to a particularly detailed forum Kyle had found, they had managed to figure out that the person had been a boy roughly aged 15-17 but this was only assumption from body type. Nobody had actually seen his face. Many were saying he wore a long purple coat or cape but always kept his face hidden with a hood. Most of the websites however, where just experiences without any description, “he saved my shop!” or “my husband would have been shot if it wasn’t for them!” 

Kyle was surprised that none of this had been on the news yet, it sounded like pretty serious stuff and he wouldn’t be shocked at all if any of the incidents made it to the live news in the next few days but he supposed without any photo evidence nobody could actually prove that these string of incidences were real. 

 

~~

 

It all happened the next morning. Kyle had been having a pleasant walk to school in the chilly but still bearable November weather. As soon as he made it to school and turned the corner towards his locker, he saw Stan running towards him, phone in hand. Stan was closely followed by Cartman and Butters. 

“Dude! Dude!” Stan panted as he finally caught up to Kyle. Stan had a look of pure awe on his face as he waved his phone in front of Kyle. Cartman and Butters matched the same expression, smiling but with a hint of something else there that Kyle couldn’t recognise. “DUDE!” Stan exclaimed again. 

“Yeah, what now?” Kyle tried to match Stan’s expression but was out of the loop once again so all he felt was annoyance. He had a feeling he knew what this was about though. Kyle had only ever seen Stan this excited since he graced everyone with his first bout of news. 

“Someone  _ finally _ got a picture of that guy who fought off Professor Chaos!” Stan exclaimed. He positioned his phone still this time so Kyle could get a proper look. It was just like the forums had said, he really did have a purple coat and a hood covering half his face, just right so he wouldn’t be identified. The picture was clearly taken in an alleyway or something, so it was dark but the photographer had managed to get a pretty clear side angle of the figure running. From what Kyle could see, underneath the purple coat, he was wearing a lighter purple shirt and dark jeans. Though Kyle wasn’t ready for everyone to know yet, now that he’d really seen the hero he thought it was really cool to have someone on South Park’s side. 

As if reading his mind, Butter’s added, “Yep! It’s pretty cool, huh Kyle! Someone on South Park’s side.” He still held the same expression as before, the one Kyle couldn’t quite recognise though he was sure he was excited. 

“Yeah, I guess you were right after all Stan.” Kyle smirked as Stan pulled his phone away. He saw Butters lean in to have another look at the photo while Cartman looked away. It was unusual for Cartman to remain so quiet especially when it was a topic you’d expect someone to be highly opinionated about. 

“Hey! What? You didn’t believe me after all then!” Stan huffed, “But, come on, we finally have someone on our side. Someone who looks like they can handle some of the crazy stuff in this town.” 

“Well fellas I agree with ya an’ all but we really have to wait and see, I suppose. We don’t know if he can handle all that stuff yet.” Butters said wringing his hands. He was right though, Kyle thought. There hadn’t been enough crazy incidences lately to really judge his competence. But, Kyle supposed it was better that there were less abnormal occurrences. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back everyone! I hope you enjoyed the update. I decided to use this as the chapter to get everyone used to my interpretations of some of the characters. I promise I will move onto more plot heavy stuff soon! As I said before I’m not completely used to how schools in America work, so I’m not sure whether saying that Wendy was part of the student council was correct. Do you have head students or class representatives? Anyway besides that I thank you all for reading, I have lots of ideas for this fic which I hope you all enjoy when they arrive <3


	3. Bit of Chaos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last of the ‘character introductions’. From here I will be writing more to do with the main plot but this also means that chapters will be (hopefully) longer. I thank everyone who has read so far it means a lot!! <3

~Craig's POV~

Craig Tucker didn’t realize what the entire school was all worked up about until this morning, for the most part he didn’t care. Craig never usually cared about anything, apart from the exceptions: his boyfriend, Tweek Tweak, his guinea pig, Stripe and outer space. To him the local chatter of South Park was none of his business, it didn’t directly affect him, so he didn’t care. It wasn’t like he didn’t care about the state of the country or the world, he just didn’t care about South Park’s gossip, it was usually all lies or speculation anyway.

He sat eating his breakfast as usual, his younger sister, Tricia opposite him. She would flip him off every time he looked directly at her and he would return the gesture. For the most part they sat in complete silence except for the buzz of the TV next door and his father commenting loudly at different news segments. His family were all cynics. 

When he’d finished breakfast, he left his bowl in the sink and made his way to the living room, where his father sat watching the news. He had time before he had to start walking to school, he didn’t like arriving early, Tweek and Kenny were almost always late so he’d have to loiter in a corner looking asocial. That was a surefire way of getting attention, Craig didn’t do attention. He joined his dad on the couch and Tricia followed suit. 

“Hah, they reckon we now have a vigilante in town.” his dad smirked gesturing to the TV. Craig looked over, on screen were several badly taken photos of a figure fully clothed in dark purple and green. The news anchor proceeded to talk about multiple crimes the vigilante had managed to stop as well as how he’d managed to corner Professor Chaos. 

Though, Craig wasn’t one for rumor, he knew what the town people said about Professor Chaos. As South Park’s most wanted, Tweek had brought up Professor Chaos many times, he was  _ sure  _ that any day now Professor Chaos would be adding murder to his list of crimes and that he would be the first victim. As paranoid as Tweek sounded, he had a point, his moves were unpredictable. It was best that he was caught as soon as possible. It seemed unlikely to Craig that anyone had managed to corner Professor Chaos, afterall it was said that he possessed an unknown and dangerous power. You’d assume that Craig wouldn’t believe this rumor out of all the more realistic ones floating around. But Craig did believe it, he also had reason to believe that this new vigilante had a power too, he believed it because  _ he  _ had a power as well. 

 

~~

 

~Professor Chaos' POV~

“Look here, Minions” Professor Chaos smiled crazily up at the huge monitor mounted on the wall. “It seems like we have a new plaything afterall.”

His Minions gathered round staring up at the monitor, all clad in various pieces of metal or aluminium foil. Even as South Park’s most wanted group, they still had a tight budget. There was murmurs throughout the small group that seemed to hit a nerve with their leader.

“General Disarray, how long till the  _ you know what _ is ready to be used?” Professor Chaos called to a smaller ginger haired boy behind him, he was also clothed in aluminium foil. 

“Well, it’s a big project you know Professor, it might take another few months…”  General Disarray replied.

“Make it ready by Christmas at the latest. It doesn’t matter how well it works. We need to show our new…  _ friend _ …” Chaos chewed his thumb absentmindedly still staring up at the screen, “Yes, our new friend, we need to show him how things work around here. A bit of chaos never hurt anyone.” 

General Disarray blinked once at the screen, then without any noticeable reaction turned away to get back to work. 

  
  


~~

  
  


~Kenny's POV~

It had been a long day, school had been full of excited students, some running around in a frenzy preparing for upcoming exams and others enthusiastically telling their friends the same story they’d heard on the news this morning, which more often than not ended with “Yeah, I heard that too!”

Kenny McCormick came home to his small house on the far side of South Park, the old ruins of Sodosopa looming, casting long shadows over the now reclaimed site, hangout spot and home of ‘you know, those people.’ Kenny knew exactly who ‘those people’ were. The same who always loitered around this side of the train tracks, he could name most of them. The homeless, the alcoholics, the delinquents, the forgotten. A lot of the people grouped in with ‘those people’ were nice people, they’d just experienced a lot of bad luck. Kenny was grouped in with them a lot, so he knew that even the best of people probably couldn’t convince anyone that they were different from ‘those people.’ His friends never cared about where he came from, but he saw how others would look at him, especially people like Cartman who would just say it to his face.

He came home, his parents passed out on the couch as usual. Karen lay on her bedroom floor coloring pencils sprawled out around her as she doodled in a notepad. She was definitely more carefree than Kenny was at 12 years but he liked her that way. He tried to make her life as easy and enjoyable as possible, not having to worry about looking after their parents and balancing school as well as any other activities. There were many times when Kenny felt like just giving up on everything, but the idea of leading Karen straight into the same life as him kept him going. We was determined to make sure she was as safe and as happy as possible.

Easier said than done. Kenny lived a cursed life. He was immortal. In other words, he couldn’t die. This meant he was a potential death trap to anyone around him. Nobody else knew this, he had tried many times to tell others, he’d even tried to prove it. Nobody ever believed him, whenever he died everyone would just forget. So eventually he just gave up. It was much easier to just try and distance himself from people, to become part of the background. Not that he was trying to be particularly asocial, he was still friendly and hung out with just about everyone. 

Whenever he’d died in the past, he would always just wake up several hours or even days earlier, depending on how bad it was. Though recently, he’d found that he could go forward a few hours or days. It was confusing. It was random. So he’d experimented. But, this meant that, eventually he was caught. He’d been trying to figure out whether he could decide to go forwards or backwards in time when he died. But his older brother, Kevin had seen him with the rope. After that, Kevin had completely changed. He’d stopped staying out for days at a time, stopped drinking everyday. He became almost responsible. He tried to make up for not being there for Kenny and Karen. At first, Kenny was wary, he didn’t let him take care of Karen, that was his job after all. But eventually he proved himself to them, he became more like a parent to them than their parents. But Kenny and Karen still held a closer relationship, one built on trust and commitment. But Kenny’s near death had shocked Kevin. Kenny had always been smaller, he’d always gotten sick a lot, but now Kevin was absolutely sure he was suicidal too. He’d always kept a close eye on him after that. He was sure that he was mentally unstable, maybe he was, it was surprising what so many deaths did to your mental state. 

As a response to Kevin’s new found determination to be the best elder sibling he could be, he’d managed to get a job at a nearby convenience store. Which meant, of course, despite his close watch on Kenny, he was still able to live his ‘second life’ at night. Approaching his room, he pulled open a secret compartment he was able to make in his closet. There he donned his purple costume that made him into the Angel of the Town, the symbol the town needed. 

He actually had three secret compartments in his closet, one holding his costume, one he made  _ sure  _ was closed at all times as well as a secret exit, one that led into the street outside. Psyching himself up for the night ahead, he pulled his hood securely over his face and made his way out of the secret exit.

 


	4. Everyday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My wish to write and my will to write are in a continuous fight. I have many ideas for how I want this story to playout, I really hope I don’t miss anything I want to add. Sorry if any of the characters feel OOC, this is how I personally see them, but I do try and stick to the show’s characterizations as much as I can.
> 
> Also, I feel it’s important to stress that this story will contain a lot of adult and sensitive topics like depression and suicide etc. But, if you want to continue reading anyway, I will be noting whenever a topic like this comes up in a chapter in the author’s note. <3

“Days pass by, every hour, every minute, every second ticks by. Sometimes we don’t even realize it. Some days we’re on continuous auto pilot, letting days, events, conversations, people’s faces, ordinary occurrences flood into each other so we’re no longer able to distinguish one day from another, all days blurred into one fuzzy picture. It isn’t until something unusual happens that we start to notice the little things, things that might have been there all along, things we overlooked and just pushed into one of our regular fuzzy pictures of a day. It isn’t until then, we start to question things as they are. Though, you could mean anything by ‘unusual’, everyone has different definitions. But, when the unusual happening passes, most of the time, all the little bizarre puzzle pieces in a broken up photo of unusual get lost and forgotten again, pushed aside for another mind numbing day. Do you ever take the time to actually think about  _ why  _ things happen? What happens in a town where the unusual  _ is  _ the usual? Do you just overlook everything? Will anything ever fill in the last piece of the puzzle? How far do you have to push until you have something so bizarre even those fully accustomed to the unusual become utterly bewildered? Thinking about it, I don’t think we can realistically define normality. So, by that logic, we shouldn’t be able to define unusual either. Everything, in a way seems unusual to some extent, even things completely normal have some abnormality when you look hard enough. Is it because we can’t fully comprehend some things? Is that why everything seems to flow together so easily? Do we fill in the unusual gaps with usual answers? Or is there something else at work here?

Philosophy aside, I just wanted to point out that, it makes you think. Maybe, we’re all over thinking things. Or maybe we’re not thinking enough. But either way, things seem to be the way they are for now. We can either strive to look for answers or just be. Are there answers out there? I suppose, we’ll find out. 

 

By the way, where are we?”

 

~~

 

~Kyle's POV~

It was the last day of November, so that obviously meant the end of Fall and the beginning of the good ol’ season of Christmas. By now, it would be normal for lights to be strung, tinsel to be raised and carols to be sung at every street corner. That was an exaggeration, but Kyle didn’t care much for the season. In his opinion Fall was by far superior. Of course, there was still one day left of November so decorations for Christmas hadn’t sprung up just yet. But the next day, you’d swear the town had undergone a transformation. 

Kyle awoke to sounds of his brother, Ike, he was always extremely loud in the mornings. Though, too old to be throwing tantrums about going to school everyday, he still made it known he was unhappy about it  _ every… single… day… _ Kyle didn’t know you could get ready that loudly, but somehow Ike managed. His parents were always downstairs at this time, so it was only Kyle who had the joys of hearing it, they would never allow it otherwise. He was sure at this point it was less of a protest as it was a daily ritual. 

It was still dark outside at this time, outside his window he could see the old tree that used to constantly tap on the window whenever there was a breeze. He used to be scared of it, but he’d soon grown out of it. Kyle got up promptly and made his way to the bathroom as he did every morning, Ike still banging around in his room. 

After his own ‘daily ritual’ he had decided to turn on the TV in the living room in order to catch up a bit on the news. He had always prided himself in being very aware of the going ons in the world but recently he’d been made aware that he was slacking on that. Secretly he’d been hoping for more news on the vigilante that his entire school was buzzing about. Though, everyone had their own reasons to be excited for the vigilante, Kyle’s was more associated with the vigilante’s own motivation. He knew how inadequate the town’s police were, so he had immediate respect for anyone willing to step up and do anything about it.

As Kyle expected, news of the vigilante had hit the TV news. Now, Kyle thought, it was official, South Park had its own hero. Nobody would be able to deny his existence, the news had provided photos and several stories from local people.  _ Good for him  _ Kyle smirked and set the TV remote down after turning it off. He knew what everyone in school today was going to be talking about at least. 

 

~~

 

Sure enough, as soon as Kyle reached his locker, Stan followed by Clyde, Token and Jimmy surrounded him. Stan, Clyde and Jimmy shared looks of excitement and awe, Token was alike Kyle in many ways so he probably found the whole event exciting too, but wasn’t willing to show that to the rest of the group yet. 

 

Clyde, Token and Jimmy belonged to what the school liked to call, ‘Craig’s Gang’. This group obviously included Craig as well as Tweek Tweak, sometimes Kenny would join them but nobody considered him part of the actual group so much as an occasional add-on. Craig used to be considered one of the cool kids of the school when they were in elementary school, this is because of his natural calm and collected front. Many learnt that he was just a cynical asshole after that, but he had ‘collected’ the others in the group in a period of time, therefore earning the name ‘Craig’s Gang’. 

Clyde Donovan considered himself a womanizer and definitely saw himself as a cool and relevant guy. Though, everyone in the school knew that he was really just a playful coward who didn’t even know how to speak to a girl let alone date one. He had become part of Craig’s group because he’d considered himself and Craig to be one and the same, cool guys, catching all the girls’ attention. Despite Craig obviously not wanting girls’ attention. He stuck to Craig and the others throughout elementary and till present day and everyone just accepted him as part of the group. 

Token, was named the ‘mother’ of the group, always getting the best grades, always looking after the group and giving the best advice. No one really knew how he came to be part of Craig’s group, but somewhere along the line, Clyde had dragged him in too. Everything aside he was respected in the school and often took part in school events and would help Wendy out as a school representative. Though, Token too, could show his childish side, but a lot like Kyle, he would try and hide it to keep up appearances. 

Jimmy Valmer, often forgotten as one of Craig’s Gang, he could usually be found trying to dig up stories or listening out for rumors flooding the school for the school newspaper. Jimmy and Clyde got along well, Jimmy had a knack for comedy and though most of his jokes were puns or dad jokes, Clyde found all of his performances hilarious. Jimmy had become part of Craig’s Gang after he left ‘Cartman’s Group’, though he always finds it strange thinking back to it, why he was even part of Cartman’s group, they had always seemed perfectly content at being a quartet. 

 

“H-h-hey K-Kyle!” Jimmy started.

“Yeah, guys I know already, I watch the news too…” Kyle sighed, a smile creeping up on his face while watching everyone beam up at him. 

 

“Aw, dude, this is crazy! So, I guess I’ll just ask what we’re  _ all  _ thinking,” Stan exclaimed, “Anyone got ideas who he is?” Stan glanced excitedly at everyone one by one as if expecting immediate answers.

 

“Wait… uh, how do we even know it’s gonna be someone  _ we  _ know?” Clyde questioned, his excited expression making way for a puzzled glance at Stan.

 

“Because,” Token began “You know what they’re saying. They think he’s someone  _ our  _ age. Meaning he definitely attends this school. He could be in our grade for all we know.”

 

“ _ What…”  _ Clyde trailed off.

 

“Yeah!  _ Sooooo…”  _ Stan encouraged eagerly.

 

“I bet it’s Kevin Stoley.” Clyde blurted. 

 

“Y-y-yeah, ten do-dollars on K-Kevin Stoley.” Jimmy added, clearly just looking for something to write for the school newspaper. This topic being the current topic of interest for the majority of the school, it would boost Jimmy’s reputation by a tenfold if he wrote something interesting for the paper on the subject.

 

“Dude… What? Why Kevin Stoley?” Stan laughed.

“I don’t know man… He just strikes me as the kinda guy who’d get up to this sorta thing.” 

 

“I doubt his parents would let him do something like this.”

 

“H-how d-do we know it’s not you S-Stan? You brought it u-up in the f-f-irst place.”

 

“Aha, no way dude!” Stan laughed.

 

“That’s suspicious…” 

 

“What about you, Kyle? Who do you think it is?” Stan asked.

 

“Guys, I really think it’s too early to be thinking about this. I know it’s exciting and all, but we literally don’t know anything about the guy.” Token explained before Kyle could say anything. Though Kyle hadn’t thought about it. It was true, people did think the vigilante was someone their age. So he had to go to their school, right?

While Stan, Jimmy and Clyde argued with Token over whether it was too early to theorize, Bebe Stevens approached them from around the corner. 

 

“Guess you guys are all going on about the news then.” Bebe said casually, leaning against a locker near Kyle’s. She looked irritated despite the school being flooded with gossip, that was unusual for her. Kyle guessed he was the only one who noticed, he was told he was quite perceptive.

 

The others all looked over to meet Bebe’s cold gaze and immediately stopped their conversation. Though Bebe was usually the outgoing and easy to get along with type, when annoyed she had a gaze that could kill a man. All those who crossed her while in this state rarely walked away emotionally unscathed. Kyle was glad he was almost never on the receiving end of Bebe’s wrath. 

 

“W-well… What else is there to talk about?” Stan tried, looking sheepish. It seemed as if he already knew the cause of Bebe’s anger and was just now realizing a mistake he had made. Clyde, oblivious to the room’s mood piped up.

 

“Ah! See guys, it’s my girl, dying to confess her undying love to me!” Clyde fell forwards through the group, trying to wrap his arms around Bebe’s neck in a type of unwanted embrace. Bebe, ignoring him and quickly dodging his embrace, continued.

 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, Stanley.  _ I just spoke to Wendy. _ ” Stan visibly winced but acted ignorant nonetheless. 

 

“O-Oh yeah?”

 

“Yeah, and  _ she  _ says that she thinks  _ you’ve  _ forgotten your anniversary.” Bebe smirked. “Is this true?” 

 

“No! Of course I haven’t! Me and Wendy have been together like… six years! How could I forget?” 

 

“Good! Now my best friend better be one happy lady later or you know what.” Bebe casually looked at her nails like this was any other conversation. Stan murmured something under his breath that no one could hear, but apparently Bebe caught on.

 

“Yeah, I said I’d cut your dick off.” She smiled happily as she said that and strode away the way she came, leaving the boys and especially Stan in a shocked daze.

 

“Damn… dude… all that cuz you forgot your anniversary…” Clyde said dazed, mostly because he’d been rejected by Bebe.

 

“And you wonder why Bebe doesn’t wanna date you.” Token said bluntly, staring Clyde down.

 

“No! I didn’t forget!” Stan sighed, a sad expression taking over his features, “It’s just that every year I try and make our anniversary special, and I don’t know what to do anymore. We’ve pretty much done everything and,” he sighed again, “it’s just hard, ya know?” 

 

“Well, start giving up now, and you’re going to have this problem every year. It’s been six years you’re acting like you’ve been married fifty.” Kyle said.

 

“Y-you’re g-gonna have to think of s-som-something cuz B-Bebe’s gonna cut your d-dick off.” Jimmy said seriously.

 

“That’s if Wendy doesn’t first.” Kyle said bluntly.

 

~~

 

At lunch, all thoughts of the vigilante had disappeared, instead replaced by thinking endlessly of ideas for Stan and Wendy’s anniversary. Stan had been avoiding Bebe’s deadly gaze all day and by lunch he was exhausted and just about ready to give up. 

Stan sank down next to Kyle at their usual table. Opposite them, Cartman sat sneering at them from behind his lunch. Kyle noted that Kenny was with Craig across the hall, it would have been helpful to have him around today, he was usually brilliant at coming up with plans like this, he always seemed to know what everyone wanted.

“Dude, just take Wendy out for dinner, stop trying to be so extravagant. I bet she’ll enjoy that just as much as any other outing.” Kyle suggested, starting on his lunch.

“Yeah… I guess that would be the safest bet. But now I have Bebe on my case too, I feel like it needs to be special.” Stan explained leaning on his arm, not looking interested in anything the school was providing for lunch. 

“Stop being a pussy Stan,” Cartman piped up. Kyle had always hated Cartman, so had Stan, and so had Kenny for the most part. Why did they still talk to this guy? They could easily just become a trio, or invite Butters back into the group. Wait, why was Butters ever in their group? Five was an awkward number, wasn’t it? Actually, now that he thought about it…

“I’m not! I just want to treat my girlfriend to some place nice, is that too much to ask?” Stan argued, not in the mood to be justifying himself to the likes of Cartman, breaking Kyle out of his puzzling thoughts. 

 

~~

After school, Stan had finally made up his mind about taking Wendy out, chills running down his spine the entire time as Bebe stared from around the corner. 

Kyle made his way out of the high school, not in any particular hurry, he knew as soon as he arrived home his parents would pester him nonstop about studying. They had always been like this, encouraging him to improve skills or study at any free time, but they had gotten more serious as he got older, even Ike was now feeling the pressure. 

As he reached the walls of the school, covered in student graffiti, he spotted Kenny’s small frame crouching down playing with some tatty rats. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d spent any time together. 

“Hi, Kenny” Kyle smiled down at him. Kenny looked up quickly and grinned back at him before turning his gaze back to the scurrying animals.

 

“Hey, Ky.”

 

“Dude, you… shouldn’t play with them. They could have diseases or something.” Kyle frowned, Kenny just shrugged. They stayed in silence for a few seconds before a thought crossed Kyle’s mind.

 

“Hey, um, why don’t we hang out much anymore?” Kyle asked, Kenny looked up at him again and smiled.

 

“I like to hang out with everyone, y’know? Why, do you miss me?” It was true, Kenny did hang out with almost everyone in school, because of this he had many friends just not many  _ close  _ friends. It used to be just the four of them: Kyle, Stan, Kenny and Cartman. Had something changed? 

 

“Haha, well you could say that. Since it’s Saturday tomorrow, do you wanna hang out with Stan and me?” Kyle asked, he already had plans to hang out with Stan tomorrow, it would be nice to see more of Kenny though, like the old times. 

 

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Kenny looked back down at the sidewalk, the rats had scurried off during their conversation. Kenny stood up fully, he had always been shorter than Kyle ever since elementary when he was the smallest of the group, he soon overtook Cartman in height (not width) much to Cartman's disgust in middle school, but his orange hoodie obscuring most of his face, had made it more evident as it was a little too big. Kyle had noticed that he would usually hide in them in uncomfortable situations but kept his face hidden most of the time regardless. It was comforting, perhaps. 

 

“Cool. Well, I have to get home. So… I’ll see you at Stan’s tomorrow?” 

 

“Yeah definitely. See you tomorrow.” Kenny waved and turned away from him, presumably walking home. It seemed like a short conversation, but Kyle knew it had been worth while. 

Kenny was quiet, with him, actions spoke much louder than words. He seemed content being invited to things but staying in the background, rarely contributing to conversation if it was held by a group. Kyle would like to hear more from him, after removing his parka a few years ago and changing to a similar looking hoodie instead, it was much easier to hear him. He had a soft but clear voice, easy and pleasant to listen to. Kyle had heard he was a good singer too… 

Kyle also knew that Kenny was a lot smarter than he gave himself credit for, a lot smarter than he let on, he had an air of wisdom about him, seemed to know things about others they didn’t even know about themselves. Kyle assumed it was due to the fact that if there was ever a secret to be told, Kenny would know, he was a good listener and was good at keeping secrets. But despite all this, if you hadn’t had known Kenny as long as Kyle had, you’d barely know any of this. Kenny kept to himself, and though Kyle respected that, he often found himself wanting to know more about him, because under all this Kyle sensed an air of sadness and mystery even he couldn’t figure out… 

Kyle realized he had been standing around by the gate so long that Kenny was already long gone in the distance. But on that thought, Kyle was determined to learn more about Kenny and really prove himself as a friend because even though he considered himself a good friend of Kenny’s, he wasn’t sure if the other felt the same. 

  
  



	5. Angel of the Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I haven’t updated in ages, it’s been a chaotic start to the year but I hope to get more updates out soon! I’m still an amateur writer so please bare with me. I also want to apologise beforehand, I am absolutely awful at physical fight scenes as you will see for yourselves.  
> Also, do students in American schools get to choose what subjects they want to take? If anyone could teach me about the curriculum, it would be a massive help! <33  
> Just a heads up, but from this point onwards, chapters might contain some heavy topics which might be upsetting.  
> But other than that, please enjoy this chapter. I hope this one is longer than the others too. <3

~Mysterion's POV~

The light of a chilly winter’s day finally gave into defeat as the pitch darkness consumes the atmosphere, casting long streaks of purple and blue across the sky. The black canvas was sprayed with faint stars glimmering in the darkness, they looked only a short distance away but were really far, far out of reach. The snow that often liked to grace South Park with its presence had yet to fall. Meaning the only light came from the odd street light, shop window or the moon casting down it’s light onto the otherwise pitch black sky.

Mysterion watched over the dark town, it seemed that since news of his appearance crime had lowered ever so slightly. He wasn’t disappointed by this, of course, he would no longer sit by and watch as the city became a cesspool of crime, that was the entire reason he took up his alter ego in the first place. The town had turned dangerous, nobody seemed up to the task of keeping people safe. 

Though, that isn’t the _ whole  _ truth, he had an ulterior motive, he was going to use his alter ego to help find the truth about his powers. He knew there was a truth hidden out there somewhere, he knew it wouldn’t be easy to find nor would it be a job without dirty work, but he had to try. 

In truth, he had been searching for answers for several years but his efforts were futile, seems as if immortality isn’t the topic on everyone’s minds. So he was going to use different, potentially more dangerous methods. He couldn’t risk running around as his usual self trying to find answers, not only could he potentially put himself in danger, but he was sure that others would find it absolutely insane. Not that he was exactly keen to make Mysterion look insane, but it would be easier to cover up his actions if caught. 

His powers of immortality, he considered a curse more than a blessing. His constant deaths interfered with his everyday life, to the point where he couldn’t go anywhere without the small voice in the back of his head warning him about small but could-be-lethal things others would overlook. 

When he was in elementary, he used to just consider his immortality as a nuisance and something that he’d just have to get used to. But after more deaths than you could possibly hope to count, it was hard not to imagine if there was a way out. Not only just a possible way to end the curse, but a way to stay dead for good. The latter was just an intrusive thought however.   

Day by day, his powers continued to grow, in fact, around a year ago he discovered a whole new power of his. He knew it would somehow be related to his immortality, but somehow instead of being a danger to himself,  _ this  _ power would be dangerous to others. So far, it hadn’t acted up, so it wasn’t a danger, unless he  _ made  _ it a danger. It was a terrifying thought, his immortality gave him enough grief so he was reluctant to put any faith in this new power. He was now able to produce small purple flames from the palm of his hand. It was strange to say the least, to him it felt cold, but when held up to anything around him it would burn like any other fire. He knew immediately that this power would grow, at first he could only make a few sparks, now they were full fledged flames capable of burning and spreading. So far he could control them well so they weren’t anything to be too worried about,  _ for now _ . 

There was a small part of him that realized, ‘ _ this is a power I can prove!’  _ But for now he’d moved on from trying to tell anyone, it was his business alone, who knew what would happen if someone found out and decided to tell everyone? He knew what even a small rumor could amount to in this town.

He had a plan, stage one was independent research, anything from old myths and fairytales to digging into Dr Mephesto’s crazy podcasts and news articles, nothing had seemed relevant, he had no idea what he was looking for so he had to move to stage two. This part of his plan he was still undecided about, it included getting one of his closest friends involved, he wanted to avoid this at all costs, but there was no denying the advantages in getting him involved, especially considering his intelligence over others’ he knew. The final part of his plan if all else failed was to think of  _ anyone  _ and  _ everyone  _ who could even be of the slightest relevance, but he had to be careful, else anyone could find out about his powers, and who knew in a town like this what would happen if word got out. It seemed ironic now, all that time spent trying to prove to everyone that he really  _ was  _ immortal, but now he wanted nothing more than for nobody to suspect a thing. A tiny part of his mind was pleading with him, to tell at least  _ someone  _ now that he had some evidence, but he knew better than that now. 

Things were different now, not only did he realize the potential risks of having powers in a ‘powerless’ world but he didn’t let what they said about Professor Chaos go unheard. It was entirely likely that the rumors about Professor Chaos possessing a power was just harmless superhero talk, but on the odd chance Mysterion  _ wasn’t  _ the only one with a power, he couldn’t give anything away, after  _ one _ person showing evidence of abnormality it wouldn’t be difficult to comprehend the idea of multiple people having one. There was no evidence that Professor Chaos  _ had  _ a power but also no evidence to suggest he  _ doesn’t.  _ That was why he pursued him that day, the day he accidentally revealed himself to the public, he figured it would happen after a while of running around, but he hadn’t wished for it to happen like this, now people were looking up to him, expecting him to be able to stop Professor Chaos. Obviously, he hadn’t found any evidence while cornering the villain but, again, there was also no evidence for him  _ not  _ possessing a power either, especially considering that Mysterion had no idea what kind of ability to expect.  __ Mysterion had to admit he was having a dilemma in figuring out his next moves. 

As he was debating on his next move, a loud noise from below killed his thoughts. He ascended from his crouched position on an office’s rooftop. Peering into the alleyway below he could see one small figure scurrying further down the dark passage, clearly searching for an exit while a larger figure pursued from behind. He watched closely as the smaller figure found nothing but a dead-end and the larger figure drew closer. 

The smaller figure sighed, acting nonchalantly despite his obvious anxiousness. “Look, okay, I don’t have anything on me… What do you want?” They asked quietly.

“Oh yeah? Did ya steal  _ that  _ then?” The larger figure scowled, gesturing to a bag the other had clutched in their hands. 

“I… I happen to know one of the shop workers. I got this for nothing.” It wasn’t the best excuse they could have come up with that was for sure. 

“Come on, we both know that’s not true,” the larger man scowled before pulling something out of their pocket that glinted in the distant street light “now, hand over what you’ve got before you get hurt!” 

The smaller figure didn’t move.

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?” The other shouted, charging forward.

Mysterion decided to step in at that point, it was a bold decision but it was obvious what it was turning into. Taking advantage of the fact that neither of the two figures had seen him hovering above them on the building, he swiftly leapt off the building and into the alleyway below, landing directly on top of the large mugger. Unfair, yes, very damaging for the mugger, yes, but also the quickest option. They definitely broke something according to the unsettling cracking sound as they were tackled to the ground, fortunately enough for Mysterion he was used to these kind of sounds and was not but off in the slightest by this. 

“W-what?” The now apprehended man choked, clearly dazed from the direct hit. Before a fight even broke out, Mysterion quickly swiped the glinting object, now identifiable as a flip knife and tied the man’s hands with two zip-ties. While, crouching over the tied man, Mysterion addressed the smaller figure for the first time.

“You should call the police,” he stated bluntly in the deeper put-on voice he liked to use while acting as Mysterion, he never liked to say too much to people though in case they recognized his way of speaking despite all his efforts of trying to mask it. He realized that was a good decision when he looked up only to be faced with Ike Broflovski. 

“Y-yeah…” he said, still rattled by the whole experience. Mysterion hauled the tied man to the side of the alleyway while Ike took his phone call. Not wanting to draw any more attention to himself especially in front of the likes of Ike Broflovski, Mysterion swiftly turned and started walking away from the scene. 

“W-wait!” Ike exclaimed looking up quickly from his phone. “T-thanks… I probably wouldn’t of made it outta here if it wasn’t for you.” 

Looking over his shoulder, Mysterion replied, “It’s no problem. But, try not to stay out this late.” After saying that he quickly tried to leave the scene, before he was stopped once again by Ike. 

“I hear about you all the time… Who are you?” It was to be expected, he had yet to introduce himself to anyone. 

“I am what this city needs. Someone who will watch over it in its darkest times.” 

 

~~

 

It was getting late and that hadn’t been his first fight of the night, he ought to get home before Kevin arrived and started questioning where he was. Though he used to stay out as long as he liked, now Kevin was keeping a close eye on him, he knew better than to give him more of a reason to worry, that would only make things more difficult. As for Karen, she just believed that he was late all the time because he spent a lot of time with his friends. He felt guilty, he was Karen’s best friend, yet he was spending less and less time with her in order to live his life as Mysterion. Karen believed that even if nobody was around to take care of her, her ‘Guardian Angel’ would always be there, looking out for her. Of course, Karen didn’t know that her Guardian Angel was really just her brother in costume, and he had helped her multiple times in the past acting as this omniscient character. For Karen, he would do  _ anything _ , her Guardian Angel could do everything he couldn’t while acting as his usual self, Guardian Angel  _ was  _ an ‘angel’ afterall.  

He wasn’t sure how Karen was going to act when she inevitably finds out that her Guardian Angel is on the news and helping people other than her. Would she be happy that he was helping others? Would she be upset? Or would she finally figure out that he isn’t who she thought he was? He wasn’t sure. Neither Karen nor Kevin kept up with the news, to them it was just more and more bad news and more things to worry over. It was unlikely that Kevin would care if he heard anything about a vigilante on the news, he had no reason to. But if Karen somehow heard from schoolmates it could complicate things between them. 

After running through the town, taking elaborate routes in order to remain hidden from streetlights or house windows he soon neared the train tracks that separated his house from the rest of the town. The house looked tiny underneath the remains of the abandoned Sodosopa, some of the lights from the stores still flickered to life now and then illuminating parts of the street below. Instead of just taking the front door while fully dressed up as Mysterion, he took the back route, opting to enter through his makeshift passageway that led into his closet. 

Out of curiosity while passing Karen’s bedroom window, he glanced inside. Though the lights were switched off, the nearly bare room was illuminated by the moon. Karen sat on her mattress, clutching the doll Kenny had once bought her tightly. She wasn’t crying, but she looked upset so he decided to stop what he was doing and check up on her. Just as he was about to knock on the window to get her attention, she looked up and beamed upon seeing him. She left her doll on her mattress and quickly got up to open the window for him.

“Guardian Angel!” She smiled, stepping back to allow him to enter the room. “I knew you’d come! You always know when I’m upset…” 

Karen made her way back over to her mattress, picking up a doll and giving it a tight hug. Mysterion swung his legs over the window’s frame, landing gracefully on the rugged carpet. He knelt down to be closer to her eye-level, she had grown taller in the last few years but he was still taller than her. He opened his arms wide, inviting her for a hug, which she quickly accepted. As he was about to let go, she tightened her grip. It was then that he noticed she had started crying and was trembling slightly. 

“I don’t know what to do Guardian Angel!” She sobbed. Mysterion placed a gloved hand on her head while she spoke. “W-what if something happens!  _ I’m all alone! _ ” 

“What do you mean, Karen? Why do you think that?” She pulled away and looked directly at her Guardian, tears spilling down her eyes. Her Guardian Angel never showed his face, but she didn’t mind. 

“Well, apart from you and my brother, I don’t have any other friends… W-what happens if something happens t-to Kenny or, or to Kevin or…” her breathing hitched, “Then I’m all alone!” 

“You’re never alone Karen. Whether it’s me, or your family, someone will  _ always  _ be here for you. I’ll make sure of it. Do you understand?” He gave her a reassuring smile despite his serious tone of voice. 

“I’ll try Guardian Angel…” 

After a short pause, he asked “What made you think about this?” He knew why she would think about things like this, especially considering their home life, but he felt he had to ask anyway, in case there was anything he could do. 

“I had a bad dream,” she said, starting to calm down a little, wiping her tears on her sleeve, “About my brother dying. But then I woke up, I knew it was a dream but thought, Kenny hasn’t been ‘round a lot lately and I’m sad but I know I always see him again. But what if something happens and I don’t! He’s always looking out for me, but if anything happened I don’t know how I would help him back!” She started crying again and clutched his purple cape tightly. This definitely hit him hard. He already felt guilty about leaving Karen alone a lot recently, but now he was feeling the consequences. 

“You don’t have to worry Karen. You’re a lot stronger than you think. When your brother needs help, I know you’ll be right there to help him.” He hugged her back, “I’ll talk to him about spending more time with you. Some people don’t realize what they should put first before it’s too late.” He said that last part mainly to himself than to Karen, he had been spending so much time prioritizing his live as Mysterion that he had been neglecting his relationship with Karen. 

After a long hug, Karen looks up a gives him a small smile, “You don’t have to do anything Angel, you’re right, I’m not alone, I have you afterall.” She giggled before adding, “And Kenny and Kevin! If anything happens I can help!” But then her smile faded and she looked down at her doll, “but, it would be nice to have some other friends one day. Hehe, maybe then I can spend lots of time with them, like how Kenny spends lots of time with his friends! I hope one of my friends is a prince or a princess though.” 

Karen’s room was littered with drawings, lots of himself, as either Kenny or Guardian Angel, there were also lots of pictures with princes and princesses on them too. All kinds of characters, in many colors decorated the bleak room. It would be good for Karen to make some new friends.

“That… sounds like a good idea. I’m sure you’ll make lots of great friends.”

“Thanks for coming to see me. You always make me feel better…” after a short pause she looked around her room and added, “Angel? Where do you live? Do you live in heaven?”

“I live with the other angels.” he smiled.

Mysterion helped Karen back onto her mattress, kissed her on the forehead, before making his way back out of the window.

“I love you, Guardian Angel” Karen smiled as she hugged her doll tightly.

“I love you too, Karen.” Mysterion waved and closed the window behind him before running away. Karen started wondering about all of the other Guardian Angels. Did they visit the people they watched over like hers did? Or did some just stay at home while watching? She wondered whether her Guardian Angel was friends with the other angels or what the angels did other than watch over others. While thinking hard about different scenarios, she fell asleep. 

 

~~

 

~Kyle's POV~

Kyle Broflovski was lying in his bed, watching the digital clock on his bedside table slowly tick from 11:59 to 12:00 to 12:01… It was officially December. He was ashamed to say, he’d gone to bed later than usual, trying to keep on top of his studies was no easy task, and trying to keep track of all the crazy stories and conspiracies being posted about South Park’s new hero was also no easy task. What? He was interested, as simple as that. Who wouldn’t be? Staying up until 11.00pm was just the cause of some extreme studying earlier that evening.

He was starting to drift off when he heard some commotion downstairs. He heard his parents and Ike speaking in increasingly shrill voices.  _ What’s their problem?  _ Kyle thought angrily,  _ Do they know what time it is?  _ He was about to get up and check what was going on before he heard loud footsteps making their way up the stairs, before he knew it, Ike came bounding into his room, switching the lights on and rushing over to his bedside spouting unintelligible nonsense. 

“Hey! What the hell are you doing? It’s a bit early for a tantrum don’t you think?” Kyle complained, everyone knew better than to wake him up in the middle of the night if they didn’t want to face his tired wrath. He wondered if hysteria ran in the family. After a few more moments of Ike’s screeching, Kyle finally realized that Ike wasn’t just having an average tantrum.  

“Ugh, calm down a moment, I have no idea what you’re saying.” Kyle sighed, rubbing his eyes. After a few more minutes of trying to calm Ike down, Kyle finally managed to get a coherent explanation out of him.

“I met that guy from the news! That vigilante guy, he helped me!” Ike exclaimed, Kyle just stared up at him in disbelief. As Ike explained the story and the small exchange between them, Kyle realized that he had  _ never  _ been so thankful for having a town that attracted weird characters, if it hadn’t been for that vigilante, he might not have a brother right now. He also realized he’d have a hell of a lot to tell Stan and Kenny tomorrow. 

 

~~

 

Kyle wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, he sat up blearily and suddenly all of the discussion between him and Ike yesterday came flooding back to him. He sat up and stared out of the window in a slight daze, whoever that vigilante guy was, he had helped his brother. He felt the need to show some kind of appreciation but wasn’t sure how. He wondered how Ike must feel, probably completely indebted to the guy. 

Despite not ever meeting the vigilante in person, or even hearing of a public announcement from him, Kyle had to admit he did have respect for him, even more now than before. Everyday all Kyle would hear on the news is stories about how the authorities failed to help someone or arrived too late, but stories like Ike’s would probably go completely unheard; it was likely that the only reason why the vigilante hit the news is because of how much the internet and town was freaking out. Kyle understood that it wouldn’t be responsible to give vigilantes much praise, otherwise everybody would be out trying to get their name out there by performing heroic acts,  _ especially people like Cartman,  _ Kyle thought negatively. But Kyle couldn’t help but think that, people genuinely trying to help others and not just trying to get attention deserved some praise.  

Even though Kyle felt like he was in complete daze, he prepared for the day ahead with Stan and Kenny. He tried to focus on today, it was going to be awesome hanging out with just Stan and Kenny again, like the old days, but without the irritation of Cartman commenting on their every move. He noticed a few texts that Kenny and Stan exchanged on their new group chat: 

 

**4:30am Stan: Heyy Kenn you still up for tomorrow at mine??**

**4:31am Kenny: Yeah see you at 10?**

**4:31am Stan: yeah sounds good, hanging out like the old times**

**4:31am Stan: less cartman this time tho**

 

Stan took the words right out of Kyle’s mouth.  _ Their sleep schedules are a mess. Why are they even up this late?  _

 

**4:32am Kenny: yep sorry I dont see you guys much anymor**

**4:32am Stan: it’s cool. Thats why we’re hanging today rite?**

**4:32am Kenny: yeah, are you still cool too ky?**

**4:33am Stan: bet he’s asleep**

**4:33am Stan: wait why are you up so late????**

**4:33am Kenny: I should ask you the same ;)**

**4:34am Stan: dudeeeee you know what i’m like, i never know what time it is**

**4:36am Stan: btw, might go round tweek’s for lunch, does that work for you two??**

**4:36am Kenny: yea**

**4:36am Stan: okay, i’m actually gonna sleep now othwrwise im gonna be deadd for tomorrow, nite**

**4:37am Kenny: k same, goodnight**

 

Kyle sighed and replied to the texts, he wouldn’t mind catching up with Tweek either, to be honest, he had never been the best of friends with him since they were in different social groups. 

Kyle made his way downstairs, his parents always prided themselves on being up early but on weekends they let him and Ike stay in bed a little longer. Despite this, Kyle always generally woke up at the same time, trying to maintain a decent sleep schedule. Ike on the other hand, usually slept in. Today, however, he was awake and looking very disheveled in the kitchen, sitting at the kitchen table as their mom made breakfast. He guessed that last night had him shaken, he couldn’t blame him, he’d be in that state too. 

“Ah, Kyle bubbe you’re awake! Now, come join your brother at the table, breakfasts nearly ready.” His mother, Sheila, greeted him from the other side of the kitchen. Kyle complied and sat down in the chair opposite Ike. 

“Are you okay, Ike?” Kyle asked. Ike sat staring off into space a complete contrast to his behavior last night.

“My precious boy, wandering into the night like that… Anything could have happened. But the good thing is, that he’s safe and that’s what matters.” His mother interjected before Ike could reply. 

“He was lucky that vigilante was there.” Kyle said.

“Yes, yes,” His mother had never been one to trust people like that, when she first heard of him on the news, she was astounded and believed that he was only up to no good, and the sooner he was caught the better. It seems now, that her attitude hadn’t changed but she did feel some kind of gratitude towards him, which was an improvement at least. “But, what were you  _ thinking  _ Ike? Wandering around like that at night?”

Ike didn’t reply and simply turned his gaze to the table. Kyle had to admit, that was a stupid thing to do, but he wasn’t in the mood to push answers out of him, not in Ike’s current state. His mother also seemed to give up trying to get answers from Ike, there was no doubt in Kyle’s mind that she had already been questioning him all night, explaining his current mood, so clearly she’d had enough, which Kyle thought was a miracle. Soon enough, breakfast was served, and his father, Gerald, had joined them at the table, despite knowing the situation, he looked completely relaxed, perhaps in an attempt to improve everyone’s mood. He often acted as the peacemaker in the family, not that it worked often.

“So… Ike, you look a lot better today!” His father started, after a few awkward moments at the table. Neither Ike or their mom said anything, Kyle looked at everyone, not catching anyone’s gaze.

“So, er… the guy that helped you, what was he like?” His father went on.

“No, Gerald! We’re lucky he was there. But, we shouldn’t condone people like that. It’s very dangerous. South Park has a bad reputation as it is right now, we don’t need people like this running around.” His mother complained.

“Ah don’t be like that Sheila! He helped our Ike, the least you could do is offer him the benefit of the doubt…” 

The rest of breakfast consisted of an annoyed back and forth between their mom and dad, nothing from Ike like originally planned. Kyle left the room once he had finished breakfast and didn’t once share his own views, he knew his mother would be outraged and start on him too, so he left quietly preparing for the rest of his day.


	6. Liquidized Paranoia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellllo! Welcome back, to CHAPTER 6!! I’m really enjoying writing this story so I hope everyone enjoys reading, I have lots of ideas <3  
> I thought I’d point out that I changed some things from the previous chapters. I realised that as Stan’s birthday is in October, he would be 17 and not 16 like the others. I also changed Kenny’s description of his deaths, he usually goes BACK a few hours instead of forward, it is rare for him to go forward. (I realised I made that sound more complicated than it is so it’s in Chapter 3 if I confused anyone…) 
> 
> I also thought I’d point out how stupid I thought I sounded when writing this. This entire chapter is a nightmare and honestly illogical but it’s South Park okay, and it’s necessary to the story later on I swear. 
> 
> This chapter is longer than any of the previous and laid out slightly different since I’m not sure what type of spacing I prefer yet, meaning this chapter has been rewritten and gone over many many times. Feedback is always appreciated and despite the chaos and delay I hope you enjoy nonetheless. <3
> 
> ALSO! I made a new Tumblr Blog for anyone interested in hearing about my updates and fic ideas or for anyone who just wants to chat: Psycho-Pop-Writes

**~** Tweek’s POV~

 

To describe Tweek Tweak in short, he was blonde, skinny, bright green eyes and, well, neurotic. Neurotic was definitely a word people used to describe Tweek, that and paranoid. He knew how others felt about him, jumpy, disorganised, probably watched too many conspiracy theory videos for his own good. Another commonly used word to describe Tweek was: addict. Tweek knew he was completely addicted to coffee, he probably drank more than the healthy amount for a week in one day. Everyone mostly assumed that his unnatural coffee drinking habits is what lead to his everyday anxious and jittery condition which included his hair pulling, skin picking, teeth gritting and overactive paranoia. 

Though Tweek had recently discovered that he might not  _ just  _ be addicted to coffee but meth as well. He had been restocking the cabinets in his family’s coffee shop when he stumbled upon a massive supply, boxes and boxes of what turned out to be meth. Tweek guessed that his family had probably been slipping that in his coffee for years. He only assumed this because it made so much sense, meth paired with unthinkable amounts of coffee would surely turn anyone into someone like him.  He never confronted his parents about it, nor did he tell any of his friends about his suspicions. He couldn’t imagine what his parents would do if he did confront them, they might just laugh and say that he was being a spaz as usual and imagined it, they might kick him out and send him to a faraway country in fear he’d tell someone  _ or they might kill him! _ Tweek’s mind was exploding due to all the possibilities.

He did the only logical thing he could do, make his own coffee while cutting down on what his parents gave him. He couldn’t completely reject them, he knew they’d get suspicious. He’d also heard of withdrawal symptoms and wasn’t looking forward to finding out more about them, that was only, of course, they  _ had  _ been giving it to him… 

From behind the coffee shop counter he eyed the storage cupboard to his left which contained the source of his anxiety. He already had tons to worry about, maybe it would have been better to remain ignorant. Ignorance is bliss as they say. He was starting to feel sick from the stress.

 

It was currently the lunchtime rush at Tweek Bros, the coffee shop his family ran, meaning Tweek was going to be completely rushed off his feet for the next hour or so. He always helped out after school and on weekends however he never enjoyed the lunchtime rush no matter how many times he had to cope with it. Today he was alone managing the store, which meant waiting the counter, serving customers and making coffee and any food that wasn’t already premade.

His parents had a strict  _ family only  _ policy, which meant whenever his parents weren’t around, he had to manage the store independently, it was a small enough store so he could just about manage everything. Sometimes his boyfriend, Craig Tucker, would help out at the store when he wanted some extra cash, he was the exception to the  _ family only  _ policy, as Tweek’s parents took a liking to him and already considered him family after only a few meetings with him.

Craig was really cool, the complete opposite of Tweek. Despite being cold and quiet, he could stick up for himself and manage everything by himself with very little input from anyone else. He never broke under pressure and would just ‘nope’ out of any situation he didn’t want to deal with. Tweek could never be like that, he found it hard to say ‘no’ to others and broke easily under pressure, but Tweek didn’t give up, he tried hard to be someone Craig could be proud of. Despite Craig’s cold and harsh exterior, Tweek knew he had a kind side that he only showed to the select few but sometimes Tweek wondered why Craig bothered to put up with him but then Tweek wondered why  _ he  _ put up with Craig’s attitude. Because they loved each other he supposed.

 

As Tweek was smiling to himself behind the counter, he heard the bell of the door ring, signalling new customers. He looked up quickly and put on his professional smile.

“Ah! Welcome to Tweek Bros!” Tweek exclaimed, he looked up to see three familiar faces, Kyle, Stan and Kenny. “Hey guys!”

“Oh, hey Tweek,” Stan started, looking around at the busy shop “did ya parents abandon you again or what?” he chuckled slightly.

“Yeah,” Tweek sighed “it’s fine though, I can manage. I think the lunchtime crowd is dying down now. Uh, what can I get you?” 

After a short discussion between Kyle and Kenny, Stan and Kenny went to find a free table while Kyle ordered for the group. 

 

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you guys hang out together like this. _ Without _ Cartman I mean, haha.” Tweek stated as he brewed his friends’ drinks. Tweek used to be a part of their group, ever since… Something he couldn’t remember happened. Probably some kind of drama between the group, he was soon replaced with Butters by Cartman. He wasn’t going to pretend that he wasn’t offended but he  _ did  _ belong better in Craig’s gang anyway, Cartman caused him too much stress and Cartman and Kyle’s constant fighting wasn’t something Tweek wanted to be around.

“Fucking Cartman man,” Kyle groaned “It’s really great to just hang out with  _ friends  _ for once, y’know.” Kyle paused briefly “actually, speaking of Cartman, you haven’t  _ heard  _ anything have you?”

“Hm?” Tweek looked up from the drinks in confusion.

“No, it’s… nothing. He’s just been unusually out of our business for a while. It’s weird. He’s only this withdrawn when he’s up to something.”

“Ah, I don’t remember hearing anything from him… I don’t really keep an eye on him since he’s such a pain...” Tweek twitched suddenly, had he heard anything from Cartman? Why would Kyle ask unless Cartman  _ was  _ up to something? Everything Cartman did was somewhat suspicious. Was he ignoring something important while being tied up in his own business? No, he said it was nothing and it  _ is  _ nothing. Tweek didn’t need anything else to worry about.

“God, I wish I could say the same. He’s completely entangled in my life. You know what Tweek, keep your distance. We never know what’s going on with him.” Tweek handed Kyle the tray with all their orders on it, he normally took it straight to the table but he was right there. “Thanks dude, sorry for the negativity.” Kyle then walked over, tray in hand, to the table Stan and Kenny were sitting at. 

 

~~

 

In about 45 minutes, the lunchtime rush was over, only a select few remained as well as Stan, Kyle and Kenny who sat at a table on the opposite side of the store. Tweek started clearing the now abandoned tables, despite having disposable cups and plates a lot of customers would still leave them on the table. The bell at the door, signalling new customers rang suddenly so Tweek turned to greet the new customers. 

“Welcome to Tweek Bros!” Tweek gave his signature greeting. The man who came in smiled warmly at Tweek’s greeting, he looked roughly 40 years old, he sported business casual, a light button-up shirt similar to Tweek’s as well as a dark green blazer. He would look like any other customer if he hadn’t been carrying a clipboard and pen and looking around the store almost inspecting its every inch.  _ Is he an inspector?  _ Tweek guessed, beginning to approach the man as he made no effort to move from the doorway and find a table.  _ But… we had an inspection two months ago, this can’t be right? _

“Ah, hello young man. I’m here on behalf of the South Park Inspection Agency,” the man pulled a card out of his shirt pocket showing his ID, “We’ve had a complaint, and following protocol, I have to check it out, you know how it is. Are the owners here?”

“Gah! No, they’re not here!” They had, had a complaint? What for? Was it about what Tweek had found earlier? No, it couldn’t be… It wouldn’t be  _ just  _ an inspector if it was. Surely. Tweek had never dealt with inspectors before, so he had absolutely no idea what to expect. He felt like his head was about to explode from all the stress today had brought him. His nausea wasn’t getting any better. Would he fail the inspection if he threw up then and there? 

“That’s alright. I’d like to take a look around now, following protocol, you know?” The man said calmly, starting to walk around the store, writing down on this clipboard every now and then. 

 

Tweek had gone completely pale and sat down on a near chair to avoid toppling over. Why was he so anxious? 

It wasn’t the first inspection they’d had, they’d always passed. It was probably because of the meth in the storage cupboard.  _ The meth in the storage cupboard?  _ The meth in the storage cupboard! 

Tweek jumped up suddenly and made his way over to the storage cupboard. The stash was buried under many boxes of shop supplies like coffee beans, paper plates and muffins. One man couldn’t check  _ all  _ of these boxes, right? Tweek had only found the stash this morning, there was no way someone could randomly pick out those particular boxes within a room full to the brim with supplies. 

Tweek absentmindedly let his hands pull at the dead skin on his face as he observed all of the boxes for anything the inspector could pick up on, any telling signs that there was obviously something very unlike the other supplies in this room.  As if Tweek had summoned him, the inspector gazed into the room and wandered in.

“Ah, yes, I see you have  _ a lot _ . You can never be too overstocked can you?” He chuckled to himself and resumed his inspection within the storage room. Tweek laughed nervously in response and swiftly left the room, fainting in that room would be a definite give away. He shuffled over to his place behind the counter, pouring himself some coffee from the coffee maker, trying to calm down. He saw Kyle and Kenny looking over questioningly at him from the other side of the store. In the corner furthest from him, Tweek noticed that two new customers had come in while he was freaking out in the storage closet. They were dressed in completely opposite attire to the inspector: one with dark brown hair sporting a beanie and the other black hair and a distinctive large chin; Tweek wouldn’t have paid them any mind in his current state if it hadn’t been for the fact that they didn’t look like they had any interest in ordering and sat there sneering at him. 

 

Maybe Tweek should call Craig and start arranging times for him to visit him in jail. That's only if Craig even wants to know him after news of this gets around. ‘ **Local spaz arrested for storing hoards of meth’** Tweek bet that headline would get around faster than news of the new vigilante does. 

After Tweek’s fourth cup of coffee in 10 minutes, the inspector finally arrives seeming happy with his inspection.

“I think that’s all for today. I’ll be in touch with the owners soon, as the protocol states, you know?” The inspector says, he doesn’t have any recognizable expression in his face. That has to mean the worst, right? He’s not smiling anymore. Tweek hadn’t even realized he’d been muttering ‘oh my God’ continuously for the past 10 minutes. 

“Gah! Yes! Is there anything else I can do?” Tweek asks, his cup of coffee bouncing wildly in his hands, coffee spilling over the edges of the cup.

“Hmm, not today. I’ll be in touch with the owners shortly. Have a good day.” He promptly leaves, leaving a document on the counter, that Tweek does not look at. His coffee spilling onto the floor.

Tweek isn’t sure how long he sits on his stool behind the counter, spilling hot coffee down his hands and onto the floor until Kyle, Stan and Kenny make their way over to the counter, worried expressions on their faces. 

 

“Tweek! Oh my God, are you okay?” Kyle started, an expression of distress evident on his face.

“Dude, you might wanna put the cup down… your hands are…  _ really  _ burnt… uh...” Stan adds, sharing Kyle’s distressed expression.

“Are you okay? We saw that guy come in. What happened?” Kenny asked, also sharing the others’ expression.

Kyle started to make his way around the counter to take Tweek’s coffee cup away which had now leaked all of its contents onto the floor, even the coffee at the very bottom of the cup. Some of the coffee had even made its way onto the counter, splashed up the side of the other cups and coffee makers. He felt some liquid dripping onto his head as well. He wasn’t aware he had been moving that violently, that had never happened before. 

“Damn, Tweek, we need to sort your hand out. Can you guys watch the store?” Kyle asked, guiding Tweek upstairs to the floor his family lived on. The entirety of Tweek’s home, smelt like the coffee shop below, it would be overwhelming to anyone who wasn’t used to the smell. The hall was carpeted beige and was lined with several white and non-descriptive doors on each side. 

 

“Where’s your bathroom and first aid Tweek?” Kyle asked, worried.

  
  


~~

 

~Kyle’s POV~

 

After what felt like an eternity, Kyle pulled Tweek’s hand out from under the cold water which was streaming from the faucet. He did what needed to be done and tightly wrapped a bandage around his hand from the first aid kit.

“And, you’re done… I didn’t see what happened but you need to be more careful, Tweek. And I’d recommend taking some pain-killers or something later.” Kyle sighed, stepping away from Tweek, looking him in the eyes.

“Ah! The store!” Tweek suddenly realized, trying to move around Kyle to get to the door. Kyle stepped in his way to stop him.

“Don’t worry about the store. I’m sure Stan and Kenny can take care of it,” Kyle paused, “you should take a break from the store now. I don’t know what happened between you and that guy who came in but you’re stressed, take a break.” 

“Hnng…” Tweek paused, twisting the hem of his Tweek Bro’s apron as if considering Kyle’s request. “It’s okay. You guys have done enough, I don’t wanna be a burden. Plus, my parents would kill me, hng, if they knew I’d let anyone else run the shop…”

“Dude, it’s really not a big deal, just helping out a friend, right?” Kyle smiled, trying but failing to lift Tweek’s mood. Kyle was stubborn, but he knew when to stop pushing, especially with someone like Tweek. It wouldn’t make him feel good to push someone like Tweek into doing something he didn’t want, Tweek was the kind to give in easily to most things even if he didn’t entirely agree with them, he learnt that when Cartman used to push him into things back when he was part of their group. Tweek would take on more than he could handle and get completely stressed out like he had earlier, so he wasn’t about to leave him alone. “If you really don’t want us to run the store, you’re  _ at least  _ going to let us help out a bit.” 

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Tweek muttered, twisting his apron into a knot.

 

“What?!” Kyle yelled as if he didn’t hear, he was already down the stairs and heading back towards the store. 

 

~~

 

~Kenny’s POV~

 

South Park always experienced bitterly cold winters, today was one of those bitterly cold days. Kenny was glad he was inside Tweek Bro’s coffee shop, it was always pleasantly warm inside, not that he experienced being inside the shop very often. He was here with Kyle and Stan, after Kyle had invited him out yesterday. It was nice to properly hang out with them again, though he saw them everyday it was always with everyone else there; Kyle would spend time with Stan and Wendy while Kenny would spend more time with Craig and his gang, as they were called.

Kenny liked to spend time with lots of people, but he always considered Stan and Kyle his closest friends, they knew each other since as long as he could remember. Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman used to be seen everywhere together, if you saw one of them, you saw the other three. All three of them hated Cartman, that was a fact. It was a relief to finally be going back to normal, hanging out with Stan and Kyle. Well, it would never really be  _ normal  _ until Cartman comes running in shouting ‘you guys, you guys!’ and then dragging them into something stupid. He wondered how they’d even managed to split up their solid group in the first place, he supposed there were many factors. He also wondered how long it would take Cartman to come barging into their lives again although he had never truly left, he was acting distant recently and ironically that was never good news.

Earlier, Kyle had rushed Tweek upstairs after burning his hand on a fresh cup of coffee, the contents of his cup had leaked everywhere, even seemingly impossible places like the ceiling. He hadn’t seen what happened entirely so he just concluded it was one of South Park’s usual exaggerated happenings. Though he had seen two guys in the corner of the shop sneering at Tweek and making quiet remarks that he couldn’t make out. The entire day had been strange. He supposed no day could ever be ‘normal’ with the threat of death hanging over your shoulders at every moment. 

 

Despite being with Craig’s gang a lot more than Stan or Kyle, it was clear that they were both closer to Tweek then he was. This was to be expected, after one of Kenny’s deaths, they had adopted Tweek into their group as a replacement, soon followed by Butters. It hurt a bit to know that he would have just been replaced had this been a permanent death. Kenny noted that, that was the first time he had ever ‘gone forward’ after a death rather than going backwards therefore experiencing everything all over again. This is why they had time to replace him, time had progressed without him, though nobody realized this. At the time, they all knew he was dead but after he came back it seemed strange to them that Tweek and Butters had even been part of their group since they were always happy as a group of four. Even then they didn’t remember. The only thing different from that death to all of his others was that, that one had been caused by an illness, however that didn’t explain how he’d managed to go forward again one other time. It was strange to witness. Kyle and Stan were close to Tweek however they never realized why. The same didn’t apply to Butters, Kenny knew he was still bitter about being kicked from their group for seemingly ‘no reason’ even though he convinced everyone that he was fine with it. 

“Hey Kenny are you just gonna stand there and watch me clean?” Stan asked looking up at him from where he was crouched on the floor mopping up Tweek’s spilled coffee with a dirtied rag. Kenny grabbed another rag and started to clean up the counters and coffee makers where it had also spilled. 

When it came to the ceiling, they were troubled. They considered leaving it since it would be in nobody’s way, it would definitely stain the white ceiling, but no harm done. But as South Park would have it, that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t drying on it’s own, there was now a seemingly supernatural coffee leak, the coffee dripping as if Tweek had left a half-empty cup upstairs and was letting it leak into the shop. Since Kenny was the lighter of the pair and Tweek’s bar-stool looked like it was on its last few days, he climbed on top with the rag to try and stop the leak, as if thats how leaks worked. What could they say? They’d never experienced a ‘coffee leak’ before. 

 

We all knows what happens next. 

 

Even Kenny himself knew what would happen next, but he was overconfident, his balance was that of a cat’s, if anyone could survive a small fall he could but his curse thought otherwise. The bar-stool that had clearly seen better days gave in from being stood on and Kenny smacked his head on the counter. Usually he’s alive long enough to watch an entire scene unfold, seeing how gruesome his death was or watching other people find him nearing death’s door; but this time he died on impact. His curse decided that he was to die one of the better deaths, instead of lying in agony watching people find him, trying to help or running away. The worst weren’t even the extremely painful ones, the worst was when one of his friends or family members found him and tried to help him, when he heard their goodbyes or convinced him he’d be okay and that they’d help him, those were worse than any other. He always wonders which one of his deaths will be the last. Is there a certain amount of times he can die before that’s that? Is there a certain way he has to be killed? Will there be a last? Will he live forever and see everyone around him die and live to see the universe end? 

 

~~

 

It was dark. It was always dark. 

 

Empty.

 

There wasn’t sound. Light. Movement. Feeling.

 

This is what death feels like. 

 

Huddling into Death’s cloak for comfort until he guides you to your eternal fate. 

 

Sound is always first. Flooding from every direction. Powerful like hearing for the first time.

 

“Ahh, Kenneth, fancy seeing you here.” He knows that voice. It’s owner is joyful. When they are pleased.

 

Feeling. It is overwhelming. Like feeling pain for the first time. It’s nothing, yet everything. The ground is cool, the air is heavy.

 

“I jest, I jest. You’re always here!” 

 

Sight. Light is blinding.

 

Until it isn’t. Like waking from a dreamless sleep. Nothing until the dread comes seeping back in uninvited. 

 

“So… what happened this time? I actually wasn’t looking. Your story is better than the actual event anyway.” He smiled. His blood red eyes cold but smile warm. Someone who has seen all evil, who loves all evil. 

 

Damien. The son of the Devil himself.

 

He sat legs-crossed on his usual red and platinum throne, wine-glass in hand as he watched over the wretched land he and his father ruled. 

“You there? Or still in fairyland?” He laughed, looking down at Kenny with a smirk. Kenny stood up getting used to the oh-so-familiar environment of Hell.

“I fell of a stool… hit my head on a counter,” Kenny laughed quietly to himself “Not even one of the stupider deaths either. I should’a known better.” 

“Aha, classic Kenneth and the clumsiest deaths of them all! Not that I don’t enjoy your company, but what did you do  _ this  _ time to end up  _ here _ ?” Damien asked eyebrow raised. He used his seemingly infinite supply of magic to pull up Kenny a throne like chair similar to his own out of thin air. 

“I don’t even know… I guess I did jump onto a guy from a three storey building… And I mean, it couldn’t  _ possibly  _ be all the fights I’ve been starting lately.” 

“Wow. It kinda feels like they’re just pinning anything on you at this point to keep you down here,” Damien stated, he was thinking hard about something until he sighed and smiled devilishly “well, whatever! It’s not like I fucking care what you decide to do in your spare time. You want some wine?” He asked presenting a glass in front of Kenny which hovered until he took it.

“Uh, sure…” Kenny watched the wine bottle fly over to his glass and pour some in. He wasn’t one to drink, he knew firsthand what it did to people who abused it and he swore off drinking all together. But this is with Damien, in  _ hell  _ it’s not like he needed to be a saint, he wasn’t going to wake up drunk. 

“Just kidding it’s really blood.” Damien confessed just before Kenny took a sip. “Okay, I lied it’s wine.” Kenny looked up at him questioningly. “Okay really it’s blood.” Kenny took a sip anyway despite Damien’s ‘warnings’. “Aw… I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t drink it so I could have the whole bottle to myself. Uh whatever!”

 

Damien did a little energetic dance in his throne to an imaginary tune as he watched his surroundings. This was hell, the classic ‘fiery pits of torture’ despite endless amounts of lava flowing through the hard rocky ground, there really anything going on. It was like being near a volcano except the lava flowed like a river and kept to its path anything that would be destroyed by it was already gone.

Hell was surprisingly big and the Devil was surprisingly pleasant. He only really cared about having miniature tea parties or gossiping about his exes.  Damian was the same, but with an obvious cruel side as he laughed at people in the living world. But usually he would sit around watching the world that was his to rule over and drink wine. Kenny had been to hell so often, they had become friends. Damian didn’t talk to anyone else within hell, just let them get on with their punishments. He found Kenny’s entire situation comical and they would often just talk about their lives over wine or other food and drink before Kenny returned to the living world. 

Damian was mostly a joyful character and didn’t take much seriously. When you’ve seen all evil, Kenny supposed, nothing would really shock you anymore. Though he did have a wiser and more serious side he would use when needed. As expected from the literal son of Satan, he was infinitely powerful and could mostly do whatever he pleased, when problems or fights broke out he could sort things quickly. 

 

Kenny considered asking Damian about his new ‘fire powers’. Damian had displayed similar powers once before. He had mostly stopped Kenny from asking anything about his curse, he wasn’t sure if that was because Damian didn’t know anything or whether he wasn’t allowed to discuss it with him. Damian could  _ do  _ a lot but wasn’t  _ allowed  _ to do some things.  He figured it was worth a shot. 

Kenny tried to conjure up his newfound purple flames in his hands, they burned a lot brighter and faster this time, spreading to a bigger area then it had before. Perhaps due to the power growing or the general additional heat generated by hell. The juxtaposition of purple on orange surroundings caught Damian’s eye. He turned fully, looking surprised, putting down his glass.

“Ooooh!” He smiled jumping down from his floating throne down to Kenny’s level. “First of all,” he says holding Kenny’s hand upwards in his hand to look closely at the flames “I’m jealous of that colour.” 

He poked his finger into the flames clearly not expecting it to hurt, but flinched back immediately. 

“Bloody, fuck, second of all, where have you been hiding  _ this _ ?” He no longer held Kenny’s hand in his own but was looking intently in awe. 

“I only developed this recently. I don’t think I can  do anymore than this right now, but that is definitely more than it was a week ago. Do you know anything?” Kenny replied, hoping for some new answers, Damian might provide a starting place for his research.

“Well, it  _ looks  _ like flames. But I’m no scientist. I have a few theories, but I don’t know… And I’m not sure if I’m allowed to tell you. But! Since I like you, I will find out if I can tell you what I know and I’ll try and look into it for you. Purple flames is… not… Common to say the least.” 

“I’m turning into a lot of work for you, aren’t I?” Kenny smirked.

“It’s not like I have anything  _ better  _ to do. All of you up in the living world are being boring as  _ hell  _ recently. Go back and spice things up will you? Looks like you’re outta time anyway. I’ll see you later as I always do!”

 

He blinked and suddenly the world around him was gone.

 


End file.
